Day 492: Beginnings & Endings

I went to my first Korean wedding today! David and Lena were getting married today and they had invited the entire POLY staff. (David was our R&D guy until December, and Lena still works there in the library.) Their wedding was in the famous Yeouido Full Gospel Church on Yeouido Island in Seoul, and Addie, Katie, Kara, and I went down there together. Sally & Jay were there too so it was great to see them.

It was quite the cultural experience, even though we were later told that by Korean standards, the wedding was very 'Western.' I noticed quite a few differences and really enjoyed the experience. There was no dress rehearsal, so throughout the ceremony there was a lot of uncertainty as to what was supposed to happen next. When they walked down the aisle (at the beginning) everyone *clapped and cheered!* People talked and chatted throughout the entire ceremony, some of them even on cell phones. The entire wedding was over in about a half hour, apparently quite long by Korean standards. I was told that it's not uncommon for weddings to be about 15 minutes long, with weddings in church halls booked every half hour. Before David and Lena's wedding was even over the church crew was already setting up flowers for the next wedding. And then during the very, very brief reception afterwards, people sat at tables and ate from a buffet of Korean food. A few speeches were given, but *nobody* paid any attention at all, instead continuing to eat and chat with friends. All the speeches and words of wisdom and thanks fell on deaf ears. Wow...much more informal than our weddings, that's for sure!

I hung out at Starbucks in Sinchon with Addie and Michael after the wedding, and then later met up with Pauline and Tim. We took the subway to Dondaemun and met up with Katie to have dinner at that amazing Indian restaurant. Dinner took forever and a day to come, but damn was it ever delicious!! Tonight was Angele's going away party and so we went to that after dinner. Angele teaches at a university here and so she has a few months off for summer. She's going back to Canada for two months and this will be the last time I get to see her since I'll be gone by the time she gets back.

It ended up being a really fun night! We hung out a lounge (all of us, plus Nick, Meghann, Kim, Darryl, Logan, and Kailyn) in Hyewa (a funky part of Seoul) just having drinks and playing pool. After we got bored of the lounge we decided that some partying was in order, so we all got in cabs and headed to Hongdae. It was quite a crazy cab ride!! I was in a cab with Angele, Meghann, and Kim, and while Angele flirted with the young cabbie we drove through Gwanghwamun where there were hundreds and hundreds of people out on the streets at 1am! What's going on? Then we noticed that all of the super giant TV billboard screens downtown were all on the same channel - a soccer game! Massive crowds had gathered to watch the game and it was so exciting just to drive through all those masses of people hanging out at such a late hour! And then next to us all the way to Hongdae was this car full of these hilariously crazy and friendly Korean 20-somethings. They were all pumped up and high from the soccer game, and so we'd scream "Woohoo! Go Korea!" while racing through the streets, and then yell and wave at each other at every light. The driver was this especially funny Korean chick who'd lick her finger and then rub her chest at us every time we stopped! OMG it was hilarious!!! Easily one of the funnest and most memorable cab rides in my life!

Once in Hongdae we went to Tinpan but it really sucked there. Boring and quiet and not fun at all. We moved the show to Route 66 and once we each had a Long Island Iced Tea in our system the party kicked up another few notches. We were all drunk and feeling very jovial that night - most of it's a wonderful blur... And outside the bar I ran into James and Kevin, two guys that I met in Boracay at Christmas! Holy fricken' small world, Batman! Eventually it was time for bed, so I went back to crash at Pauline and Tim's. Saying goodbye to Angele was really sad. I love her to pieces, but know that we'll be friends forever cause we've got such a special, tight bond. And hey I'll get to see her for a few days in December when I'm back in Korea briefly.

What a long, full day!

Day 491: Getting Desperate

Addie and I have a new TV obsession. We've joined the throngs of people back home, jumped on the bandwagon, plunged into the crowd of new hard-core fans....

We can't get enough of 'Desperate Housewives!'

We had been hearing about this new show back home that apparently everyone and their dog was watching, and so finally on a whim Addie decided to download the entire season onto her computer. Since Survivor, The Apprentice, Lost, and The OC had all finished up we needed a new replacement anyways. Well we were hooked after the first episode, and have been watching it like mad ever since! I'm leaving Korea soon and so our goal is to go through the entire season in the next three weeks before I leave.

It's so good!!! From the hilariously obsessive and manipulative Brie (it's true - her hair really does never, ever move!), to the dishevelled and exhausted Lynette (gotta give her credit for coming up with new ways to try and control those adorably devilish children of hers), to the sultry and diva-like Gabrielle (we love that she's screwing the hunky teenage lawn boy John right under her husband's nose), to the bad-luck ridden and irresistibly charming and goofy Susan (she's my personal favourite, you go after that Mike Delfino, Suzie!) we just can't get enough. Throw in the slutty Edie, the nosy Mrs. Huber, eye candy John and Mike, and all the various husbands and children, and you've got a cast that you can't help but love.

This show is awesome. I'm addicted. And I wanna 'Get Desperate' everyday!

Day 490: Raising The Bar

After work today I went out for dinner with Addie, Katie, and two of the new staff - Kade and Stacy. We went to Ho Lee Chow and had a great Chinese dinner. Kade and Stacy are both really interesting people who've led quite the amazing and fascinating life. Prior to coming to Korea, they were English teachers in Vietnam, and before that worked at a refugee camp on the Thai/Burmese border. And prior to that they travelled across all of Eastern Europe before taking the TransSiberian Railway all the way to Beijing. WOW!!!

And I thought *I* was well-travelled! My wordly expeditions pale in comparison to the things that they've done. Mind you, Project Wanderlust is gonna launch me into a whole other league... It's kinda funny how you can feel jealous and envious about other people's travels. Everyone you meet here is very well-travelled and quite 'worldy.' I don't think shy, sheltered people wake up one day and decide to move to Korea to teach English. It takes a certain personality, someone who's always had that strange insatiable curiosity about the world, to pick up their lives and drop themselves into a foreign country.

Back home amongst friends I've known as 'The Globetrotter', 'The Jet-Setter', or 'The Gypsy' as my mom calls me, but among my friends here I'm pretty much the same. It's a different level, a different game over here. The bar has suddenly been raised, and meeting all these people who've travelled to so many places just inspires and challenges you to want to do even more. Like a friendly competition, it's fun to see who's got the best, the craziest, the most exotic, the most unbelievable travel stories to share.

So in the Travel Olympic Games I'm still a novice, but I'm about to begin a marathon that should win me at least some medal of some sort! I guess it's true what they say though - in life the only real race is the one we run against ourselves, and I'm looking forward to giving myself a good challenge. I'm gonna break a sweat, I'm gonna pull a few muscles, cause a few bruises, come out exhausted and sweaty and panting and overall dirty from head to toe. And I like it. Think I'll keep on racing for a while... ;-)

Day 489: Eric

So I walked into class today to see that Eric was missing from the Parrots. Barbie then informed me that he had been in a bicycle accident and was now in the hospital recovering! Oh no! My poor little Eric!!! I guess he was walking down the street and some other kid on a bicycle ran full force right into him, mowing him down and then taking off leaving him bleeding on the street. He's lost his two front teeth, has some minor head injuries, and plenty of scrapes and bruises all over his body. Poor guy!! His mom was in later telling Barbie all about it and she was crying quite a bit while going over the story.

Feeling bad for my star student, I decided to have all my kids make Get Well cards for him during Sharing Time. I pulled out my secret stash of stickers from my private drawer and had the kids decorate up some pretty damn awesome cards. Hopefully this'll make him feel a little better! I feel so bad for Eric, and rather protective actually. It's amazing how attached you get to your kids. 'Papa Bear' syndrome kicks in when you know they've been threatened! And nobody messes with my Parrots Clan! ;-)

Day 488: Strangers From A Strange Land

We've got a lot of new staff at POLY in the last month. Megan, Chris, and Tim have all left in the last three weeks and so new peeps have been coming in to fill their places. Tim's replacement started this week and he's a really nice guy from....guess where....

....THUNDER BAY!!!

What the hell!!?? What a small freakin' world it is!!!

His name's Keith Buzzie and immediately we were both very curious about our past roots. We've never met before, but Thunder Bay isn't all that big of a city so there *must* be *some* connection to each other that we have. Turns out there isn't! I lived in Forth William. He lived in Port Arthur. I went to Churchill. He went to Hillcrest. I went away to Simon Fraser. He stayed for Lakehead. He's a year older than I am, and our siblings aren't connected either. Hmmm.... We even tried friends of friends or past work places or something, both determined that we MUST be connected somehow, or that our paths have in fact crossed many times but we just have both forgotten it, but no luck. All our ideas and leads all ran straight to dead ends.

So here I am in Ilsan, suburbia of Seoul, South Korea, and I've just met a total and complete stranger from my hometown, many thousands of kilometres away. How crazy is that! ;-)

Day 487: And They Keep On Coming...

...the care packages, that is!

I've gotten three more care packages in the last little while since my parents' arrived, and it's been really exciting!
From my pal Barbiekins in Vancouver I got some Kraft Dinner, a Lipton Sidekicks, and my most favourite chocolate in the world - Cadbury Minieggs! From my good bud Cindy-lou-hoo in Thunder Bay I got a CD full of awesome mp3's, a bunch of burned DVD's, even more Lipton Sidekicks, and a stockpile of delicious chocolate (what can I say? My friends know I have a sweet-tooth!) And then from my little-bit-older-but-definitely-way-wiser friend Phil I got a truly fantastic book about how to be a good travel writer. It's by Lonely Planet (the gods that I worship) and even though I haven't finished reading all of it yet, it has provided some really great insight into the industry. I've always enjoyed writing, so hey why not see if anyone's interested in reading about my adventures once I get back to the home continent?

It's kinda funny that I'm leaving Korea soon and so suddenly this wave of care packages is flowing in, but hey I'm not complaining one bit!! I love it! Thanks guys for all the wonderful presents! They mean a lot to me and all the gifts were very thoughtful. You guys are the best. :-)

Day 486: The Last Breakfast

After a truly fantastic sleep, I woke up and Michael and I had our last breakfast at his place. He's decided that because if the incident with his neighbour he's gonna move out, and soon. Where he's going to move to, I don't know, but this could very well be our last weekend at his place. Which really sucks, cause it's a great apartment, we've had a lot of good times there, and it bites that he's gotta lose it cause of his psycho neighbour. He's already run into him once in the hallway and he was loud and angry again then, and who wants to live in fear of your own apartment building's hallway? Great apartment or not, it's not worth it.

So Michael cooked up an amazing brunch as he always does, and then it was time to head out for the day. Lately things really have felt like they're "winding down" in terms of my experience here in Korea. Things are tying up, I've been making final preparations, it's all coming together.... It feels strange and a little sad sometimes, but good. I'm excited for my trip and for stepping into the next phase of my life, but sad about what I'll be leaving behind as well. Especially my friends. It's gonna be hard to say goodbye to all of them. A friend of mine has commented that from my blog he can tell that I'm "done" with Korea, and I guess that is true, I do feel like it's time to move on, but I'll still miss it, and it will take some time getting used to not being here. How ODD is it that the idea of NOT being in Korea seems strange and foreign now, instead of the other way around?!

Day 485: Drug Experimentation

Today was a busy, full day. It started off with me waking up at the crack of dawn to drag my ass down to the International Clinic in Itaewon so that I could get pumped full of drugs. No, I'm not sick, but with my coming trip I needed to get some vaccinations. With my Hepatitis A and B now topped up, the new Japanese B Encephalitis coursing its way through my veins, plus the mega-cocktail of drugs I got before leaving Vancouver, I'm all good to go. With one exception - malaria pills.

I was given a choice between two kinds of pills to take on my trip (and yes, malaria pills really are a necessary requirement, especially considering some of my more exotic destionations.) Choice A is only one pill once a week, but 25% of people who take it suffer significant side effects, ranging from nausea, mood swings, diahrea, and headaches to severe yeast infections and horribly intense, vivid nightmares that plague your sleep. Choice B is one pill every single day, and its side effects are milder but supposedly more common, including the whole nausea/headaches package plus skin sensitivity to the sun. Hmmmm...not very fun choices, eh?

I've decided to give Choice A a try. To this day I've never ever been able to swallow a pill (I have to chew it or mash it up and then mix it with juice) and so having to take only one pill a week seems a lot more attractive. Because of the risks of the scary side effects, my doctor is giving me a one-month trial of those pills. I'm gonna start taking them and if I don't go crazy then I can order more for my trip. If the pills start doing bad things to me then I'll stop and we'll know that I'll have to go for Choice B. I start the medicinal experiment this Tuesday. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, or more like attempting to shop. I had a big long list of things I needed to buy (just little stuff for my trip, but all really important) but was shot down each and every time I tried to find something. Some things just can't be found in this country it seems! Argh! After a frustrating morning of getting absolutely nowhere I met up with Addie, Mike, and his friend Chang for lunch at EuroCafe. Before meeting them I helped boost my morale by buying three CD's at Kyobo. New Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, and Natalie Imbrulia ar all coming home with me!

The afternoon ended up being nearly as frustrating, and culminated with me having a near meltdown in the middle of Yongsan Electronics Market. My camera came without a battery charger, but because it's a Kodak I've not been able to find one here, despite searching high and low in an electronics store that's as big as a whole mall! Argh again! After regretfully rearing my ugly side for a few minutes in front of my frightened friends, I calmed down, returned to normal, and we all decided that a relaxing visit to Starbucks was in order. The rest of the afternoon ended up being quite fun, hanging out in Sinchon and then having dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with Pauline and Tim. After dinner we went back to Pauline and Tim's where I got to check out Tim's collection of photos from his own Southeast Asian travels. Definite inspiration there!

Day 484: My Buddy

So Michael's recently made a very big decision, and I couldn't be happier about it...

Michael's decided that he's had just about enough of Korea, and is gonna get the hell outta here. Well, for a little while anyway... And he'll be accomplishing this by joining me on my trip!!! He can't leave Korea until early fall or so, but that means that I'll have a buddy for the better part of Project Wanderlust! Yeah!

I was totally prepared to do this trip completely on my own, but this is even better. Travelling solo is cool, but is *so much* more fun with a good friend. Someone to share the memories with, to laugh as you go along, to help you and look out for you, someone to take your picture, someone to recount the stories with when the trip's over and done with. He's my best friend here in Korea, and we already know that we travel well together. We've got the same interests and both enjoy a wide variety of activities. Temples, hiking, beach-bumming, night-clubbing...we both enjoy it all.

So we've even got a specific date picked out for when we're gonna meet up. We're gonna meet in Bangkok on September 15 (at least that's what we're aiming for) and it's gonna be awesome. An amazing trip with my best buddy across Southeast Asia? Sounds like a dream to me! :-)

Day 483: Takin' It To The Streets

Science class was really fun today. Jeremy and Tim, the other Specials 1 Science Teachers, and I decided to take science 'out to the streets' for a little active fun out in the sun. It's so rare that we ever get to leave the school for anything, but today we actually convinced our Director to let us outside the school for a bit.

We've been talking about weather in class, and how the sun warms the Earth and how that affects day to day weather and temperature. We brought along our thermometers and went to the playground across from POLY. We then measured the temperature of both the air and the sand, in and out of the shade. The kids were able to clearly observe the distince differences between them and it helped them to understand the effects of sun exposure. Science is always a fun class for them, but being outside, doing something other than looking at textbooks, was exciting and engaging for them. It made the material come alive and we had the full attention of all the kids for the whole period. Right on!

If only we were allowed to do this kinda stuff every week!

Day 482: Gimme The Spice!

There are tolerances for many things in life. Alcohol, caffeine, and various drugs of all kinds all create differing levels of tolerance within our bodies that change with time. The equation is simple. The more of any substance that we consume, the greater tolerance our body builds towards it.

And one personal change in tolerance that I've experienced since moving to Korea is how well I handle spicy food. I used to have what I would have considered an "average" tolerance for spicy food, but fast-forward through 16 months of being in Korea and I would now boast my tolerance level to be "significantly high." The food here is incredibly spicy, and after all of this time of consuming it my body has adjusted its own level to what it can handle in the Spice Department. Either that, or my taste buds have just been slowly melted down to bare, numb stubs that require a lot more kick to get them excited. Oh, they're still there - alive and well. It's just that they've reached "Veteran Status" and can handle way more than they ever could have before.

Korean dishes that before once sent me screaming for a cold wet towel to shove in my mouth are now responded with nothing more than a zesty smile and an enthushed appetite for more. Dakkalbi is the ultimate example. It was one of the first Korean dishes I ever had (actually I think it was the first, when I was on that "date" with that crazy horny Korean woman from my old school) and at that time it was the spiciest thing that I ever had that caused serious pain to my tongue. Now I love it, and can easily consume large quantities of it without grimacing at all.

Now that I love The Spice, I wonder how this will affect my eating of food when I get back home... With my new SuperManlyTongue will old favourites back home seem bland and boring? I hope not! ;-)

Day 481: Better Than Christmas

So I got the ultimate care package in the mail today! WOO HOO!

This one wasn't a surprise, as I knew that my parents were sending it my way, but I was still absolutely thrilled when it arrived. Check out this *fun* list of goodies inside:

-my brand new digital camera (which I actually bought myself)
-my hybrid hikers from NorthFace
-my high-tech sandals from NorthFace (and both actually fit me like a glove, thank god!)
-hiking socks (thanks Dad!)
-super-strong sunscreen
-bug repellant (full of Deet, but hey I'll trade malaria for risk of cancer)
-no-water hand disinfectant (cuase let's be honest, Asia's pretty damn dirty)
-ear plugs and an eye mask (helping Scotty's future sleeps)
-and last but not least, a bunch of giant ziplock bags (quite possibly the best invention EVER by mankind)

WHAT A LOOT BAG!

Getting this box of goodies is like better than Christmas! A big thank you to my awesome mom and dad for sending that out my way, and for buying all those treats/supplies for me! :-)

Day 480: Celebrity Frisbee

Today was a bit cooler than yesterday, and was semi-overcast for a good part of the day, but it was actually a welcomed relief from the sun, since all of us had got quite a lot of colour yesterday. We kept it pretty mellow today, doing just more beachy lounging. Katie and I had a good vigorous game of Celebrity Frisbee, which I am fully confident will soon appear in the Summer Olympics.

Celebrity Frisbee is a game that my ol' roomies Greg and Barbie and I invented in New Westminster back in the day when we were all going to university. It's simple but brilliant. It involves setting up a triangle and throwing the frisbee around the circuit, trying not to drop it. If you can get it around full circle ten times without dropping it, you get to sleep with any celebrity in the world of your choice! Wow! Okay, no you don't *actually* get to sleep with the celebrity for real, but for some reason you'd be surprised how motivating that is! Haha! Katie and I modified it to make it even harder, where we stood across from each other and simultaneously each threw a frisbee at each other, catching it at the exact same moment, before immediately throwing it back again. It's quite tricky, and takes a lot of coordination and rhythm to get the timing just right. Being the frisbee stars that we are, we actually made it all the way up to 30! Fuck yeah! ;-)

Soon it was that crappy time - the time to pack up and head on our. We took down our weekend camp and made our way back to the ferry terminal. Soon we were back in the city, all of us exhausted and eager for a shower and a soft bed. What an amazing weekend - we all had a blast! My last camping trip in Korea, and I'm so glad it was such a fun one with all my best buds. Good times.

Day 479: Cherry Tomatoes

I had the worst sleep ever last night. I absolutely froze all night long! I love camping, and normally have no problem sleeping outdoors, but last night I honestly didn't sleep until the sun came up and things started to get warm. I WAS SO COLD! I just sat there huddled in a ball shivering while Michael in his bag next to me slept like a baby. Lucky bastard! I only managed to get a few hours of sleep in the early morning until it became too hot to stay in that tent.

Luckily today was a day that did not require a lot of energy! It was HOT HOT HOT today and we spent literally the entire day lounging in the sand. I read for several hours on my towel, and spent a little time walking along the sand and chatting with the gang. I considered going for a swim, but the water this time of year is still too cold for my liking (Mike, Katie, Pauline, and Tim braved it though!)

I should've lathered myself up with more sunscreen, cause by mid-afternoon I was looking like a baked ham. Any part of me that had been exposed and unsunscreened had turned a bright glowing red. Especially my feet! I have no idea why, but my feet got burned to a crisp despite being mostly in the sand all day long. Seriously, my poor toes looked like ten little cherry tomatoes! Oh boy, that's gonna hurt later on...

Another dinner in town, and then another - but even bigger! - bonfire at night! The fire was huge and we sat next to it for hours, drinking beer, telling stories, and staring up in awe at the canopy of bright stars above our heads. It was so beautiful! Not wanting to spend another night as an ice cube, I went back with Nick and Angele to stay at the minbak they had rented for the weekend. It was nice to sleep indoors, and I didn't freeze my ass off this night. :-)

Day 478: Our Beach

Ahhh yes, the weekend that we've been waiting for for so long...the first long weekend we've had here in Korea since February! With the beautiful weather we've been having lately, we couldn't have picked a nicer weekend to take a 3-day camping trip out to Dokchokdo. Dokchokdo is our favourite island, and one that we camped at twice last summer (remember "Survivor?")

We headed out early on Saturday morning to catch the 9:30am ferry, and lemme tell ya it was quite the Amazing Race to get on that boat. An underestimation in the time it would take to drive from Ilsan to Incheon nearly resulted in Michael, Katie, and I missing the ferry! Luckily we got on the boat at the last minute, and soon we were cruising our way out to sea.

Besides being a bit like The Amazing Race, our day was also a bit like the movie The Beach. Our Beach on the island is an undiscovered little gem that us friends happily keep from the rest of the world. It's a sheltered strip of pure clean sand next to blue-green waters and surrounded by a forested hill, banked at either end by rocky bookends that have kept this beach safe and protected from the bulk of the island's tourist traffic. Most beaches in Korea are crowded and noisy with hundreds of families crawling all over them. But not Our Beach. It honestly is the only nice natural spot I've ever seen in Korea that's not constantly covered in other people. And for that reason we harbour our little treasure, telling its location only to our closest of friends, for fear that if its location were known it would soon be over-run with hordes of tourists (and most likely foreigners!) I think you truly have to spend quite a bit of time in Korea to get a true understanding of how rare a secluded beach is. Like Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Beach', we guard this beach with our silence.

And we had an especially dire need to keep our mouths shut this weekend. On the boat with us were what seemed like hundreds of other foreigners all eagerly seeking an escape from the city for the long weekend and headed to the same island as us. It was quite shocking to see so many of them actually - it was as if all of Itaewon had deciced to abandon the city for the weekend! Part of our gang was Darryl and his girlfriend, who were hanging out with Darryl's ENTIRE SOCCER TEAM AND ALL OF THEIR GIRLFRIENDS! Dear Lord! The last thing we need is for our little piece of paradise to be discovered by and trampled with thirty loud drunken abrasive soccer players! Darryl knows how important secrecy is for Our Beach, and so he agreed to sacrifice himself and stay away from Our Beach while hanging with his soccer buddies. And when our boat docked and they all barged off the ferry, we happily let each and every foreigner get onto the shuttle buses and disappear off up the hill before we left the terminal.

This is OUR BEACH, and yes we're selfish and don't wanna share it with anyone! So there! ;-)

We happily discovered our beach to be completely empty upon our arrival and we immediately set up camp. It was actually incredibly foggy, despite the fact that it was a bright sunny day. A few hours later, as if being pulled out like a blanket off the floor by the hands of an unseen giant, the fog suddenly *rolled* out off the beach and back across the bay, pouring up and over the offshore islands to disappear beyond. What a strange sight!

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sand, and then later when Pauline and Tim joined us we went into the nearby town for some dinner. After supper we headed back to Our Beach to make a bonfire and relax together. We called it an early night and went to sleep in our tents.

Day 477: And You Thought You Had Bad Neighbours!

I received a very urgent phone call last night at one thirty in the morning... It was Michael, upset on the phone, and in dire need of a place to crash immediately... He came by an hour later to sleep but didn't really fill me in on the drama until this morning when I was getting ready for work.

I guess last night his normally very noisy came home drunk and loud...again...and began to scream and yell at his girlfriend in his drunken stupor. Michael banged on his wall and told them to be quiet because it was so late. Well this set off his neighbour, who suddenly went completely psycho! He began to attack the wall, hitting it, kicking it, throwing furniture and shit at it, screaming and swearing at Michael and telling him that he was coming to get him. Michael could actually hear the wall inbetween their apartments COLLAPSING as pieces of drywall broke off and fell down inbetween the two dividing walls. All this just cause Michael told him to be quiet at 1am? What the fuck!!??

Michael then called the police, and when he told his neighbour that, he suddenly went quiet. There was about half a minute of peace when the crazy guy began pounding on Michael's door trying to break it down. Needless to say Michael was totally freaked out. Finally the police arried and so Michael came out of his apartment to talk to them. He tried to explain to the police (who are notoriously useless bastards who could not care less about foreigners) what was going on but the crazy neighbour just kept screaming and swearing at the top of his lungs. The police told crazy guy to be quiet because "he's a foreigner and he doesn't understand how things are." It was at this point that the drunk neighbour lunged and tried to attack Michael *right in front of the police!*

And they just stood there and didn't do a damn thing to help.

Michael actually had to run back into his apartment and lock the door to protect himself! Finally the cops told the drunk guy to go back inside. When this happened Michael went back out into the hall to talk to the cops but they were already half way down the hall leaving. Michael didn't even get to explain his side of the story. (and he speak Korean so you can't blame it on the language barrier.)

Fuck sometimes I hate the people in this country so much. I've seen so much racism and disgusting ignorance and drunken violence it's hard to believe it all. Well Michael's decided that he's gonna move out cause he's too afraid to get caught in the hall with his crazy neighbour again. And with no support from the cops, the landlord, or the building's security, what other choice does he have? As a foreigner here you're always in the wrong and always get shat on even when you're the victim. It pisses me off.

Day 476: Girls Will Be...Girls?

I teach Science to 1S-4 every Tuesday and Thursday, and it's always an interesting class. With 11 of the 12 students being girls (poor Peter, the only boy in that class!) I can always count on some drama to occur in pretty much every lesson. Despite being only seven years old, the girls in that class can be awfully catty to each other sometimes. Some days they get so nasty to each other it's like teaching in the 'Mean Girls' class!

Well we sure weren't short of drama today! A few minutes into class Lina and Yuna were fighting with each other...again. They're best friends but tend to bicker at each other more often than not. Yuna's fairly manipulative and snotty some days, and Lina's over-sensitive and clingy, so you can imagine how that combination works out. So there was some tiff and Yuna was pouting and pissy while Lina was bawling her eyes out. Fuck...I hate dating with this sorta drama.

Only a few minutes later they were the best of friends again. That's much better! Half the class goes by and all the kids are busy working on a weather sheet I gave them. Suddenly I hear some giggling and squealing coming down from their end of the table. I look over to see Yuna and Lina....kissing each other!!! They were totally lip-locked and having a...gay old time...

OH DEAR GOD THAT IS JUST SO WRONG!

Now young kids kiss each other now and then for sure, but not like *this!* I told them to stop cause at this point most of the class was watching the show now and they seemed to enjoy the audience. They took a break but a few minutes later were back at it again. That's enough girls! Do I need to turn the hose on you? Girls are crazy, I tell ya!

Oh man, handling this sorta stuff was SO NOT in the POLY Teacher's Training Manual!

Day 475: Retired

I'd like to officially announce my retirement...

...from Korean food.

I've had enough. I'm sick of it. I'm through. I'm done. It's over. It's a dead deal. And I'm moving on.

N-O M-O-R-E!

I'm just so tired of eating it I really can't stomach it anymore. Korean food is good, but it's VERY limited in both ingredients and spices used, and just with the lack of variety of how's it's prepared. After a year and a half of having essentially the same Korean meals a million times over (I can't eat most of it anyways cause it has beef or pork or gross squishy seafood stuff in it) I just can't take it any more. I'm just going to stop eating it altogether. And I don't think I'll miss it. And hey I'm leaving Korea in just over a month anyway.

I actually officially announced my retirement to my friends about two weeks ago, but with the last two weekends away being sorta off the beaten path in rural Korea, I haven't had any other choice than to eat Korean. I can handle that, it's no problem. I've just decided that now whenever I have the chance between Korean food and...anything else...I'll always choose anything else.

I'm sick of it, don't enjoy eating it any more, and am ready and eager to move on. Now if only I lived in Thailand...there's a cuisine I could eat every single day and not ever get bored of it!

Day 474: Ariel

You can tell that Disney films are really popular in Korea. Why? Cause it seems like every class has a girl named Ariel in it! Including the Parrots.

And oh, bless the dear heart of my little Ariel. She's as sweet and cute as can be, but she sure ain't the brightest crayon in the box. Hell, I don't think she even knows she's *in* the crayon box! By yards and miles (let's go imperial tonight) she's behind the rest of the class in development. She's as clueless as can be, and half the time is off in ArielWorld daydreaming away. For the first month she didn't even speak a word, and even now her words are few and quiet. She's also the only Parrot who still speaks Korean every single day, even though that's Rule #1 on the chart about things NOT to do. She has no clue whatsoever in Phonics class, and I'm not even sure if she can name the alphabet. The only reason she got into the school is cause her older sister is in Third Grade (I teach her too) and POLY has a policy that allows younger siblings to be 'grandfathered in' despite their abilities. (or lack thereof!)

Still, she's a total sweetheart and has a smile that could light up a room. And that's about the only thing that's bright about lil Ariel. ;-)

Day 473: The Replacements

The winds of change are a blowin'...and on the horizon are a whole lot of 'em for POLY.

In the next 2 months literally half the staff will change over. Between now and the end of August, Chris, Megan, Tim, myself, Anthony, Dana, and Katie will be heading on to greener pastures. Luckily for the staff who are staying behind, they've already got our replacements all lined up. Including mine. Knowing you'll take your place so far in advance feels kinda weird for some reason.

The person who'll be filling my shoes after I leave (good luck! I wear size 12!) is actually a *female* from Canada. A female who's in her 50's! Apparently she's the mom of a girl who used to work for POLY, and she's a retired vice-principal. And her name's Barbara. Yes, that's right. As of July the Parrots will have Barbara Teacher *and* Barbie Teacher! Oh boy! That's gonna confuse the kids!

So my replacement is an older woman who's a very experienced teacher. In other words, she's the exact opposite of me! ;-)

Day 472: Finding Zen

Today was a really great day!

We slept in and then the four of us all went and rented bikes together. We went up this trail that climbed its way gently through another smaller valley and eventually lead up for a park with a hiking trail leading to a waterfall. It was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day with the bluest of blue skies. We hiked up to the waterfall which was really high but really just two silvery trickles of water plunging off the cliff face. We parked ourselves on some rocks to just relax and enjoy the scenery (amongst crowds of Koreans, naturally.)

After that we biked back down to the town/resort area to have some lunch. Feeling pretty mellow after lunch, we decided to grab our books and just sit at a little cafe and read for a while. It was really nice and chill and it felt so good to be out of the city out in this beautiful, quiet part of Korea. A few hours rolled by time and it was time for dinner (yummy dakkalbi again!) After dinner we had to gather up our stuff and board our train again for the two-hour ride back to Seoul. The train-ride was dark and quiet and it was nice to watch the sun set over the hills as the train gently rocked back and forth, city-bound.

These weekends away really help my sanity. After a busy and stressful work week it's amazing how therapeutic a weekend out of the city can be! I feel relaxed, calm, and actually ready to tackle school again. Two days outside of Seoul feels more like a week. There must be something about having physical separation from the city chaos, and a good healthy dose of greenery and fresh air that brings me back to zen. Tomorrow's Monday, but I'm cool with that now. I'm ready to dive back in and totally feel recharged. And the funny thing is that a weekend away (whether that's for camping, hiking, road trip, whatever) is most often actually cheaper than a weekend spent in the city! All those expensive dinners out, trips to Starbucks and the bar, and shopping around can really put a serious dent in your wallet. A weekend away should be an automatic prescription, every weekend!

Day 470: Dirt Cheap

Dirt Cheap - the cost of a train ride in Korea, or the price to get me into the sack?

You better have chosen the former! ;-)

Today my friends and I took a train ride to a city called Chuncheon for a weekend getaway. Chuncheon is a two-hour train ride east of Seoul about mid-way between the capital and the East Sea. And best of all, the train ride only costed 5,000 Won! (About $6 Cdn!) Damn that's cheap! For the price of a sandwich you get to coast along through lush green hills and valleys to another part of the country. Living in Asia rocks!

The train ride was really beautiful, slowly winding its way across river gorges and through tunnels, past small towns and flooded rice paddies terraced on the gentle slopes. It was hot but smooth and sooooo relaxing and scenic. We arrived in Chuncheon in late afternoon and after a quick taxi ride through the city we realized it wasn't really what we were looking for. Nature and solitude was the order of our agenda, and the city proved to be a little too big and touristy for our liking. We got back in another cab and took a ride about 20 minutes outside the city to a valley in the hills just outside Chuncheon. It was an area called Ganchon and although it was still rather touristy, it was in an incredibly beautiful valley and seemed to have lots of opportunities for outdoorsy activities.

Michael and I found ourselves a cheap hotel, and since Pauline and Tim weren't arriving for a few hours yet, we decided to rent some bikes and ride along some of the trails that run along the river. It was SO GREEN and beautiful out there, but unfortunately my bike broke half way up and we had to walk it back. By the time we got back it was time to meet Pauline and Tim. We all grabbed some dinner later and had a delicious meal of dakkalbi (spicy chicken), a popular Korean dish that this region is famous for because it originated there. After dinner we had a few drinks and then relaxed in our hotel room. We played cards, sat arund and chatted, and watched The Tuxedo (a truly bad movie) before going to sleep. It's so nice to be outside the city!

Day 469: Party At The UN

Today was Friday, and man after the week I've had, I couldn't be more ready and dying for the weekend. Michael was hosting a party at his place tonight and because we're also going away tomorrow for the weekend again, I thought it'd be best to stay at his place.

The party ended up being really cool and a lot of fun. He had invited a big group of friends from his school to come to his place and he had great turn-out. Michael goes to Yonsei University which is one of the big famous schools here in Korea, and consequently has students from all over the world. Reflecting this diversity was the crowd at Mike's. There were people from nations all across the globe, all mingling together. Strangely enough English was not the 'middle' language, but rather Korean. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise since all those students are at Yonsei to study Korean!

And what an international roster! We actually counted 12 different nationalities at one point - American, Canadian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Danish...there's more but I forget where from, but honestly it was quite the global mix. It was like having a party at the UN or something! I had some really cool conversations with people, especially this girl Anne who was from Denmark. We had an interesting chat about Danish and Canadian politics and it was pretty neat.

Life abroad is pretty awesome, I love all of this international exposure!

Day 468: Another Disaster

What a day! What an emotional rollercoaster!

I was already stressed out beyond belief over today's Open Class with the parents (remember when I was crucified at the stake by the parents of Parrots: Season 1 last September?) but my idiotic comment last night made me feel doubly worse. To help make up for my poor behaviour I really needed to have a kick ass Open Class today.

Unfortunately, the Parrots: Season 2 had other things in store...

Despite doing two 'dry-runs' before the Open Class began, the Parrots turned into little shits the moment their parents arrived. Actually for the most part 9 of them were quite good (including tempermental Judy), but 3 of them helped to fuck things up royally. My kids are normally quite well-behaved actually, but they all went more than a little squirly when all the moms came into the room. Especially Roy, Eric, and Danny. The three of them were sitting together, and Roy decided that it would be way more fun to be as silly as he could than to listen to me. He didn't want to do a damn thing on his work sheet, and instead proceeded to scribble and make funny noises and stab his pencil case over and over. Eric and Danny naturally thought this was absolutely hilarious and so their laughter helped to encourage Roy even more. Trying to rein in Roy, without looking too strict or making too big a deal and thereby risking embarrassing his mother proved to be an impossible effort in balancing.

The class ended after what seemed an eternity and I just know it must've looked awful. The moms left without saying much and I had such a pit in my stomach. I was so angry and upset. I felt like my kids had sabotaged me and had purposely tried to make me look like a terribly incapable teacher, but for Christ's sake they're only 5 so I know that's not possible. Or is it...?

I went to lunch and felt sick. On the way back to POLY I actually lost my lunch on the sidewalk. I felt that horrible. After last night's fuck up with Tim and today's Open Class disaster, I feel like my goose is cooked at POLY. Thank god I'm leaving in just over a month, cause otherwise I'm sure I'd be fired.

Well this was how I felt until afternoon prep time came along. And then suddenly everything changed. Sonya came by to see me later and actually reported that the moms felt that the Open Class was good. The only mother who was upset was Roy's, and she was mad at him for his behaviour, not me. Whew! What a load taken off! I sure as hell didn't see that coming, but then again Korean moms are about as predictable as leaky explosives.

Riding that wave of encouragement I went into Tim's office to apologize. And, another surprise - he was totally fine. He just laughed it off and said not to worry, that he knows the staff is stressed these days and that it didn't mean anything. Oh man, hearing that made me feel soooooo much better! I'm so thankful he doesn't hate me!

What a long and fucking emotionally draining day (I can mostly blame myself for feeling that way though!) What I need is a nice long break! Like five months backpacking across Asia would be nice... ;-)

Day 467: Foot In Mouth Disease

Today one of the most embarrassing things ever happened to me. *Ever.*

It appears that I'm afflicted with the Foot In Mouth Disease...

No, not Mad Cow Disease, but one where you say something that you really shouldn't and then wish horribly that you could take back that tragically irreversible deed. Oh boy...

We were in the staff room inbetween breaks and suddenly Peter pointed out the new message on the white board written by the management. It said "Please go to your classes on time." Now this is a completely valid request, as in all honesty lately we've been all a few minutes late to our classes because of our ever-lengthening staff breaks. We've also been under A LOT OF STRESS in the last little while. In fact, I could say with all honestly, that I've never felt the tension so high at POLY as these days. This week alone we have report cards due, open class with the parents, and the speech contest all happening at once. It's fuckin' crazy!

Anyways, Scotty cracked for a moment under this stress and responded very badly to this little note. At the worst possible time. Seeing the note I spewed out some rancid comment about how cowardly it was for the management to hide behind these little messages scribbled on the board every time they have a complaint instead of just telling us face to face. Peter had this *look* on his face right after I said it, and I turned around to see...

...my boss standing right behind me.

OH FUCK!

My jaw musta hit the floor in pure shock, and he responded with "Before you say things like that, Scott, you should check behind you first", gave me a look, and then walked out of the staff room. OH GOD! I could've just died right there! I was absolutely speechless and my face went 1000 shades of red. The entire staff had witnessed my slip-up as well, and there was quite the reaction when the boss left. Some people laughed, some people offered condolences, and others were also quiet with shock.

I felt absolutely terrible. That comment must've sounded so completely bitchy, and it's so not in my personality to behave like that. There was certainly truth to what I said, as it pretty much echoed the staff's sentiments, but Tim never should've heard that, and not definitely not delivered in the icy attitude-laden manner that it was. I like Tim a lot, and feel just awful. I need to offer him a serious apology, but right now I just can't even bare to look at him!

Day 466: Motivation

These days I haven't been feeling very motivated. Well maybe it's not lack of motivation, maybe it's just lack of progress...

I come home from work fairly late (home around 8pm on M-W-F, and about 7 on T and Th) and after such a long day all I wanna do is just collapse on my couch and watch TV. Not very exciting, I know, but teaching really whipes me out. Unfortunately, I have like 101 things to do every single night and have little time for rest.
Stuff to get ready for my trip (planning, reading, etc.), cleaning my apartment which always seems to look like a pig stye these days, loose ends to take care of for work, phone calls to make....plus this blog, which takes up more time than you can imagine. I don't begrudgeon having to do these things, it's just that I feel like I don't have enough time to do all that I want to. The simple fact is that there's just not enough hours in the day for me to tackle all that I'd like to. No matter how much effort I put in, I still feel like I'm slipping behind slowly...

These days I've been especially tired lately, and to be honest have been spending way too much time at Addie's watching Desperate Housewives. Scotty needs his rest and down-time though! All work and no play makes Scotty a very dull (and cranky) boy. What I need is to get a new fire in my belly and take care of all of this shit instead of just feeling so lazy. The clock is ticking down on my time here in Korea and there's a lot I gotta go before I can leave. It would just be *so nice* to have a few extra hours in the day to take care of it all, ya know?

Day 465: Drowning

God, these days, I'm totally drowning in report cards! Ugh!

It's that time of year again, that time that comes only four times a year (thankfully!) It's the dreaded 'end of the quarter' report cards and it means writing specialized comments for each individual student in all of our classes. Normally we just plug in some scores and grades, but this month it's a lot more work than just that.

I guess I shouldn't whine too much, real teachers back home do a helluva lot more than this. But still, 112 comments is A LOT of writing! And after a while they all start to sound the same, even when you try and keep them all original and unique for each student. I had a mountain to tackle, and despite starting early on them I feel like I'm drowning in all of them. So many to write! And they're all due tomorrow! Ahhhh!!!!

Day 464: Choke

We all slept in today, and it was nice to wake up and not have to run off anywhere. We had some breakfast and then just hung out for a while. Later on one of the residents on the island who's brother owned the pension we were staying at offered to give us a ride out to see the new house he's building.

We all climbed into his van and drove on up the road to the hilltop where he was building a new house that would eventually be turned into rooms for rent for tourists. The view from the top was quite amazing, stretching out across the island and over the sea. My eyes were drawn to the horizon, to the mainland visible in the distance across the water. There we could barely make out the city of Incheon, which is the the literal edge of the megacity of Seoul. And above the city was a massive, heavy, thick cloud of browny yellow smog, just sitting over the city. It was disgusting. The air in all other directions was grey and misty and clean, but towards the city you could actually see the blanket of pollution that has a strangle-hold on Seoul.

We all just stopped and stood at that putrid smog, in a somber silence, realizing that *that* is the air that we have to breathe each and every day in the city. No wonder people are always sick in the city, why your lungs never feel clean, why your throat is always coated in phlegm, why you lose breath easily, why you get a virtual oxygen high every time you leave the city. It's that smog that chokes us every day, and god only knows what the long-term effects of living in that atmoshperic toxic dump must have. I used to think that Vancouver and LA had smog problems. Not anymore!

Later on in the afternoon we caught our ferry home just in time as the rains arrived. Time to go back to the city, back to work tomorrow. The escape was short but pleasant and already we're planning another weekend away. Bring on the routine of weekend getaways! :-)

Day 463: Escape From Seoul

Last night Michael and I drove out to Incheon to meet up with Nick and Angele, and Pauline and Tim, cause this weekend we decided that a getaway was long overdue. The last time I left the city for a weekend was months and months ago! Time to Escape From Seoul! Seoul's a great city but living in a megalopolis gets to you after a while. The traffic, the noise, the crowds, the pollution....a small-town Canadian boy like me sometimes just needs to get away from all of that!

After spending the night in a very cheap and dirty motel we woke up early today to catch a ferry to Jawoldo. Jawoldo is an island off the coast in the Yellow Sea. I had never been there before and was looking forward to the quiet and fresh air. It was a cloudy, misty weekend but somehow the atmosphere seemed really appropriate. Jawoldo is very rural with rice paddies and small homes strung out along its coast - a mix of rising hills and sandy beaches. It's also very green and lush and covered in a blanket of thick forest. Very beautiful.

We checked into a pension (small 'cabins' for rent) and then decided to go for a bike ride. Our pension provided us with free bikes and so we biked along the island, cruising up and down the gentle curves of the island, gazing out towards sea, and taking in deep breaths of cool, fresh sea air. Ahhhh.... This is so what the doctor ordered!

After our bike ride the sky actually cleared up a bit and got sunny. We decided to go hang out on the beach with our towels to soak up the rays and read some books. I read my Lonely Planet: Thailand, and then Nick and I went for a walk around a small island that actually becomes a peninsula during low-tide. After an afternoon outdoors we went back to make some dinner and relax indoors. Michael cooked up some delicous Thai curry and then we played Scattergories. The boys played "Shithead" (a card game) after dinner and engaged in some consumption of soju. I wasn't feeling up for either so I chilled with my book.

We had quite the funny incident after dinner, though, with the pension owners... Around 10pm we thought it would be cool to have a bonfire on the beach, but we didn't have any wood... Well we noticed that the owners did so Michael thought he'd go over and ask them if we could buy some off of them. Well quite the misinterpretation occurred between Michael and them! Michael was speaking to them in Korean and when they said we couldn't have any wood, Michael asked why. Well they tried to explain it in Korean but Mike didn't quite understand the reasons. Asking again, the owners replied rather loudly in English, "Bitches, shut up!"

Naturally feeling angry, Michael replied with (in Korean) "Did you just swear at me?!?!" They said no and then explained again in Korean, and this time it all became clear. What they had actually said was "Beach is shut up", meaning that the beach is closed *down* for the night.. Ahhh.... That's much better! Wow, you gotta watch it with that one conversation/two languages thing sometimes! haha! We opted for a walk on the beach instead and then after that went to sleep.

Day 462: Sunny Days

Today was such an amazing day! It was Field Trip day for Preschool, and it turned out to be the best field trip yet. We took the kids to Lake Park to explore and play games, and it was a perfect, warm, sunny day with the bluest of blue skies (a rarity here in Korea, as the sky is usually too choked with smog.)

We took the kids wandering through some of the gardens and next to some ponds and pagodas for the requisite photo shoot that is a part of every field trip. It's like "Look! We're all having fun! Everyone smile! Now let's do that again 100 more times!" After the photos we went to this big field trip where the Korean teachers had set up a small obstacle course for the kids to run through. It was hilarious to watch the kids all line up and run through jumping through the hoops and rcing back and forth.

It was then time for lunch so we all camped out in the shade and had a picnic lunch under the trees. It was calm and relaxing and so nice just to hang outside. When we had finished eating we had the rarest of all rare events - free time! A concept so foreign to these poor studyaholic kids, we actually had time to run around and play and let the kids just...be kids! I had such a blast playing tag with my kids and horsing around with them in the sunshine. I wish every field trip was like this!

During this time I looked across the field and spotted...Meghann! She was there with her kids on POLY Mokdong's field trip! Small world! After that we had a gruelling game of Tug O War and the Parrots kicked major ass! We beat the two classes we were against (Addie's Hummingbirds and Katie's Penguins) and my kids were on a total high. And so was I! Beautiful sunshine, a field trip that's actually relaxed and *fun* for once, and a chance to play with my kids? What more could I ask for! :-)